Our story starts in March 2022, and wouldn’t have happened without a mutual friend (shoutout to Jess Cammarota). Randi lived across the street from Jess, and one day the two were sitting and talking about Randi’s run of terrible online dating experiences and how she was fed up with dating. Cue Jess the Matchmaker. After looking at a pic and hearing that Mel wears scrubs to work, Randi was sold. “Set me up!”. Jess did just that! The next day Mel slid into Randi’s DMs, and they haven’t stopped talking since then. The story gets a bit more complicated from here…..fast forward 6 months of endless messages, flirting, hangouts and innumerable times Mel “rejected” Randi by saying they needed more time to get their ducks in a row (they still aren’t…who are we kidding?). Randi found herself in "the friend zone". One day while sitting out by the pool, Mel dropped an atomic bomb by casually saying “I don’t want to get married again” (look how well that held up!). Randi decided to move on and start back up with online dating apps, only this time Mel found themselves incredibly jealous!!! Now it was Mel's turn to be "friend zoned". Not wanting to be THAT JERK who interferes in relationships, Mel decided to sit back and wait it out…. but not without a whole hell of a lot of flirting and making damn sure Randi remembered that they were there waiting. Well, the waiting worked… Randi was single again; flirting, messaging from morning until they both fell asleep became an everyday routine. A few months later, their first kiss was shared, and they had their first date. (FINALLY!! It only took a year!!) They both knew that they found their perfect match. Clearly, Mel’s desire to never remarry held true because shortly after dating they found themselves planning (with some help from Emily Kranicz) this very fun filled and yet intimate proposal day (yes, DAY…because there were 3 different parts to the day). Mel being an evil genius, had Randi plan out an afternoon activity (this way Randi would never suspect that a romantic day would lead up to a proposal) while they were on family vacation in Surfside Beach, SC. Randi thought a dolphin boat cruise was perfect, and it was…. followed by a delicious dinner on the inlet later in the evening. While Mel & Randi were out to dinner, Emily and Matteo were hard at work setting the scene for the proposal. Randi was chowing down on some crab legs (Randi still hasn’t stopped talking about them to this day), while trying to make plans to walk the inlet and go out to ice cream. Mel had different plans, and desperately tried to hold back a massive panic attack at the thought of their secret plans getting ruined…. all because Randi had to have dessert. A quick promise of going out for dessert after Teo fell asleep was enough to avert a major disaster, and the rest of the plans could unfold. They got back to the house where Randi saw the set up and immediately said, “I hate you” while she was trying to hold back the tears. Mel, of course, memorized a beautiful speech, got down on one knee and asked Randi to marry them. She quickly replied “Absolutely!”. Congratulations were given and planning started pretty much immediately (Randi had a Pinterest board for months before the proposal, no big surprise there). Oh, and don't worry, Randi did get her dessert that night because Mel planned ahead and ordered a dessert to go without Randi ever realizing. Together, they’ve discovered that the best memories are the ones created with each other. Looking forward to making some more memories in May 2025 when they say, “I Do”.